Dwelling house



E. D. DAHM DWELLING HOUSE May 31, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 221951 /g [ml/entan- HmerflDa/vm H's Wzfrtorvveys.

E. D. DAHM DWELLING HOUSE May 31, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 221951 1 3 /79's Wt-Zfiarheys.

fl? yen tor: 72779)" 0 Dahm by M Unite DWELLING HOUSE Elmer D. Dahm,Albany, N. Y.

Application August 22, 1951, Serial No. 243,050

2 Claims. (Cl. 20-4) This invention relates to improvements in dwellinghouse constructions and, more particularly, to novel, single-unit,independent family dwelling house constructions having a sunken firstfloor, and an upper floor, with novel bed room, bath and closetarrangements, and the provision of such a dwelling house construction isa general object of the invention.

Building construction, and especially dwelling house construction costof recent years constantly has been suffering a rising trend, apparentlywithout any encouraging indication that a reasonable plateau will bereached in the near future. Certainly, any promises involving hopes fora downward trend as to such costs, it would seem, are rapidly beingrelegated to the realm of myths. For the average family, with averageincome, the average dwelling houses provided at the present time areprohibitive and out of reach due to such high costs. Because of scarcityof materials, cheap and inadequate substitutes, and for various otherreasons, true dollar value is lacking. Members of the public are notbenefited, and true wealth, in the sense of promotion of public welfare,is being dissipated.

The foregoing difiiculties and disadvantages have long been recognizedin the building and dwelling house construction industry. Indeed, thesituation in the last several years has become more progressively acute.It long has been recognized by the industry that it would be a distinctand important improvement to overcome such difficulties anddisadvantages, and this now has been accomplished by means of thepresent invention.

Generally, it is a further object of the invention to provide such adwelling house that is simple yet sturdy and durable of construction,economic of manufacture, financially well within the reach of the greatmass of the purchasing public, and otherwise well suited to all thepurposes for which it is intended.

More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide such adwelling house of substantially rectangularly shaped floor planconstruction having a sunken first floor on which the foundation is asubstantial distance below grade so that the side walls, in part, willprovide a minimum of heat exchange, an entrance platformsubstantiallyflush with the street level, a short staircase connecting the platformand first floor, an upper second floor connected by a long staircase, acentrally located heating unit between the first and second floors, andair circulating means adjacent the ceiling constituting the lowersurface of the upper floor, and adjacentthe upper floor walking surfaceof the second floor, to provide a complete air circulatory systembetween fioors.

Other specific objects of the invention are to provide a sunken firstfloor which is at least 30 inches below grade and in which the entranceplatform is common to the short and long staircases, which latterpreferably are disposed adjacent each other; in which the upper floor,which constitutes the floor walking surface and the lower fioor ceilingsurface, comprises planks, or their equivalent, preferably 2 X 4 inchesin cross-section, laid on edge Z,7%9,Z83 Patented l t lay 31, 1955 andsecured to each other, to produce the floor walking and ceilingsurfaces; in which the floor-ceiling unit comprises edge-laid timbers ofrandom lengths, side-nailed to each other; in which the air circulatingmeans includes inner walls which terminate short of the ceiling in thefirst floor space and short of the walking floor surface of the upperfloor space, the exposed portions between walls preferably being coveredby suitable grille-work; in which the second floor space constitutes ahallway connected by the long staircase and a plurality of bedroomshaving a common closet, all of which are in direct communication witheach other; in which the centrally located hallway of the second floorspace is connected by the long staircase, a plurality of cornerbedrooms, a bath, a common closet and a balcony; in which the sunkenfirst floor comprises a living room, kitchen, dining alcove and storagespace or garage; and inwhich the studding members are set on 12 inchcenters, portions of which are eliminated to receive conventional 24inch standard size windows, the remaining studding, in part, around theeliminated portions providing the casings for said windows.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in partappear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction,combination of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will beexemplified in the dwelling house construction hereinafter set forth andthe scope of the application of which is indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the inventionreference should be had to the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view illustrating a preferred embodimentof the invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal transverse sectional view of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view, taken along the line3--3 of Fig. 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view, considerably enlarged, of a fragmentaryportion of Fig. 3 illustrating a preferred embodiment of thefloor-ceiling construction and the air circulatory arrangement; and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration depicting a preferred form of thesecond, or upper floor arrangement of rooms, hallway, bath and the like.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, there is indicatedgenerally at 10 a dwelling house of substantially rectangularly shapedfloor plan construction. It will be-observed that there is noconventional cellarutilized but that the foundation ll is preferably atleast about 30 inches below grade. The foundation constitutes, in part,the side walls of'the sunken first floor which is made up of a sunkenliving room 12, akitchenette 13, a dining alcove 14 and a storage space15. This latter space may be utilized as a garage. The sunkenarrangement of the first floor will provide a minimum of heat exchangeso that there is little heat loss, and consequent warmth during the.winter season, and little heat penetration during the summer season.

A platform 16, preferably within the confines of the side walls 17,provides ready access to the dwelling from the street level through thedoor indicated generally at 18. Leading down to the first floor is .ashort staircase 19 composed of about 5 steps or treads. Adjacent thisstaircase is a long staircase 20 composed of about 12 steps or treadsleading to the upper floor.

The floor walking surface of the upper floor is generally indicated indetail at 21 in Fig. 4 and preferably comprises suitable planks laid onedge, such as, for example, conventional random lengths or even waste,that is, otherwise unusable short pieces of 2 x 4" in cross: section. Asindicated at 22, these are side-nailed to each other and are supportedon, for example, the short edges of 2 x 8" planks 23 properly secured inposition to the studding 24 at a suitable height around the side Walls.It is possible, with proper construction, to provide this floor-ceilingas a unit so that it will be unsupported except for the planks 23although, it will be understood, that where the span is sufficientlygreat shoring timbers indicated, for example, at 25 (Fig. 2) may be usedas a matter of safety and also to provide members defining inner Wallsfor upper and lower room arrangements. The floor walking and ceilingsurfaces thus provided may be suitably scraped or otherwise finished sothat no other supplementary construction is necessary.

Any suitable type of heating unit indicated at 26, preferably theso-called space type heater, may be utilized and, as illustrated, islocated on the first floor. This wellknown type of heater draws in coldair, heats the same and circulates it readily without difficulty.However, in order to provide heat for the upper floor, I prefer toterminate the inner walls 27 a short distance from the ceiling surface23 so that the studding 24 as well as the inner surface of the sheathingor its wall construction are exposed. On the. upper floor, I prefer toterminate the inner wall 28 a short distance from the walking floorsurface 29 so that the studding 24 and inner wall surface or sheathingof the outer wall are similarly exposed, thereby providing readycommunication for circulating air between upper and lower floors. Thetermination of the inner walls as just described may be continuousaround the ceiling or floor, or only portions thereof may be soterminated. In order to give a neat appearance, I prefer, as a matter ofsimplicity, to secure to the studding 24 spaced-apart lengths ofhalf-round material as indicated at 36 although it will be understoodthat any similar, suitable type of grille-work may be used, whether ofmetal or wood, or other suitable construction material. It is to beunderstood that shutter arrangements may be provided although this isnot illustrated in the drawings.

The arrangement of rooms on the upper floor is very compact yet providesreadily accessible quarters for bedrooms, bath, wardrobe space and thelike. For example, as schematically depicted in Fig. 5, there is shown,because of this preferred rectangularly shaped construction, four-cornerbedrooms. One of these, 31, may be regarded as a large or master bedroomand three others of approximately the same size, that is, bedrooms 32,33 and 34, are readily provided if unnecessary individual closet orwardrobe space is eliminated from each bedroom itself. However, in orderto provide adequate space for wardrobe purposes, a section of the upperfloor space, approximately the size of one of the smaller bedrooms,is'set aside as shown at 35 in such a manner that access thereto fromall of the bedrooms, as Well as the bath room 36 and long stair case2:9, is readily available. Even an inside balcony 36 may also beprovided as an extension of the upper hallway between the rooms 31 and34. unless it is desired to use this space to enlarge the size. ofbedroom 34.

The, studding 24 preferably is not set atv conventional 16" centers but,on the contrary, on 12" centers so that alternate portions thereof whenremoved provide, in part, casings for conventional type windows 37. Thatis to say, if a 24" section, for example, of one alternate section' ofstudding is removed, such a conventional size window can readily besecured in position in the remaining space provided therefor.

It will thus be seen that the objects hereinbefore set forth may readilyand efficiently be attained and since certain changes may be made in theabove described dwelling house construction and different embodiments ofthe invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, itis intended that all matter contained in the above description or shownin the accompanying rawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and notin a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as amatter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

l. A dwelling house having spaced, inner and outer walls and comprisinga lower story and an upper story; the inner walls of said lower storyterminating short of the ceiling a substantial distance, in spacedrelation thereto and extending peripherally thereof, and the inner wallsof said upper story terminating short of the floor a substantialdistance, in spaced relation thereto and extending peripherally thereofto provide for the free flow of air upwardly between said stories;whereby said house may be heated throughout by a space heater located insaid first story.

2. A dwelling house, substantially rectangular in plan, having spaced,inner and outer side walls, and comprising a lower story and an upperstory; the floor of said lower story being below and the ceiling thereofabove the street level to provide space therebetween for windows; anentrance platform within said house intermediate the ends thereof;flights of steps leading from said platform to the floor of said lowerstory and the floor of said upper story, respectively; the inner wallsof said lower story terminating short of the ceiling a substantialdistance, providing a space approximately equivalent to the distancesaid outer and inner Walls are spaced apart, and extending continuouslyaround said ceiling adjacent said inner wall and around said dwelling,and the inner walls of said upper story terminating short of the floor asubstantial distance, providing a space approximately equivalent to thedistance said outer and inner walls are spaced apart, and extendingcontinuously around said floor-adjacent said inner wall and around saiddwelling in parallel relation to the space around said ceiling toprovide for the free upward flow of air between said stories; wherebyboth stories may be heated by a heater of the spaceheating type locatedin said lower story.

References. Citedin the tile. of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS288,332 'Hatch Nov. 13, 1883 311,677 Randall Feb. 3, 1885 1,686,453Jarnowski. Oct. 2, 1928 1,947,388 Frey Feb. 13, 1934 2,026,664 BartlingIan. 7, 1936 2,188,566 Cowderoy-Dale Jan. 30, 1940 2,237,831 Jones Apr.8, 1941 2,625,714 Clark et al Jan. 20, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 683,537Germany Nov. 8, 1939 i

